Flames of Chaos

by Amelia Hutchins

  “I think it doesn’t matter right now, you need to come first.” She clapped her hands together once and shooed me. “You need a bath, you smell of his creature and sex. Then you need to be examined for new changes since I can see a difference in your eyes, and your hair is now black on the tips,” she concluded, sending me off to shower.

  In the bathroom, I stared at my reflection. I had changed; my face was more defined. My silver hair had obsidian-colored tips as if it had been scorched. Naked, I looked like I’d been abused, but a closer look showed he’d had a lot of fun with my bits and pieces.

  My nipples were swollen. Knox’s teeth marks sat around the pink, swollen tips. There were bruises on my hips, probably used to control my body since the fingerprints were on the front. My thighs held the same marks just above my knees, and more around my ankles. My flesh was purple, covered in a substantial bruise from days of fucking, or so he’d said. If it was causing me pain, why hadn’t the thing inside of me realized it?

  I’d never considered it being a separate being, but I carried the proof of sex I hadn’t been a part of all over my flesh.

  Most of my sisters had been aware of what they would become or shift into once they reached a certain age. Freya hadn’t been forthcoming with the names of the creatures she’d been with when Amara and I were conceived. Aurora had begged her to tell her so that we could prepare for it when the time came, and she’d laughed in her sister’s face. My sisters had either shifted into a creature while holding the mental link to their mind or had been born with abilities. If I shared the same body and mind, then I wouldn’t remember taking Knox every which way from Sunday? Obviously, I’d been willing and fully participated. Admitting that sucked, but my bruises were from being used, not held down or forced.

  I felt a deep connection to what lived within me. So why the hell would she sleep with Knox? What if she was like a split personality, and I started waking up in strange places with strange men? What if she told Knox we liked his dick? Or worse, I continued waking up naked and sore without a single memory of what had happened?

  I turned around and peered over my shoulder, staring at my ass, which still ached painfully. That one should have been off-limits, especially since we didn’t like the prick. Glaring at my hands, I looked at the tips of my fingers, noting the red swelling there. Opening my mouth, I gazed at my tongue and then at the back of my throat. At least he hadn’t pushed through the back of my skull, I guess. I still hadn’t figured out how he could hurt my throat, considering there was no way he’d fit into my mouth.

  My eyes looked different, turquoise with tiny flecks of silver. It was hardly noticeable unless you were looking for it.

  “If you’re in there, no more fucking Knox, understood? He’s a dick.” Nothing happened. Scrunching up my nose, I sucked my lip between my teeth. “If you are in there, I’d like to meet you. I’d like to know what is inside of me. I also think we should have a sit down about whom we fuck, and what we allow them to do to our body. You got to hide, but my ass hurts.” And this was what life had resulted to now: speaking to myself in the mirror as if something else was inside of me. I mean, I knew I had something within me. I knew I was powerful, but that was me, not her. Whatever was inside of me, she rattled and matched the sound Knox made deep in his chest.

  She loomed within me but didn’t expose herself. I could feel her, but I couldn’t grasp her. What the fuck made a rattling noise? There were no snake shifters, thank fuck. I hated snakes and all scaly creatures. Anything that sheds its own skin was eerie and not something I wanted to be. There were a few creatures that weren’t allowed outside of the Nine Realms. A few who were so terrifying that they’d never learned to take human form, or had outright refused to do so. What if I lost myself when I changed? What if I could never come back from fully forming like those monsters that couldn’t hold a human form? I’d lose everyone I loved because those monsters didn’t have human emotions.

  I leaned against the counter, closing my eyes. “I hope you’re not a snake or something with scales. Please don’t have scales.”

  Opening my eyes, I moved away from the mirror, crawling into the bath filled with healing oils and sprinkled with dried rose petals. It was like a balm over my soul, and I moaned as it eased the pain from my body. My hands reached for the soap, lifting one leg to scrub it before following with the other. Sitting up, I grabbed my shampoo, pouring a generous amount into my hand, and purred. My eyes widened, and I stiffened.

  “The fuck?”

  I listened, tilting my head as if it would help me hear the sound better. I held the shampoo to my nose again. The noise came from deep within me, and I shivered as my heart accelerated, I dropped my hand into the water, washing the shampoo off. I fucking purred? Great, I was a fucking cat.

  Sitting in the bath, I waited for something to happen. I waited for anything to freaking happen. Nothing did, and when I poured more shampoo into my hand, still nothing happened. Frowning, I washed my hair and used the conditioner before leaning back. I couldn’t be a cat, I enjoyed bathing. I didn’t like yarn and was lactose intolerant. I would be the worst cat ever. There were cat shifters, but they were rather large and were usually thicker. I had coveted their beautiful eyes and thick hips, which would be a plus, rather than my small curves. If I was, I would be pissed that I’d been ripped off in the bubble butt and hip area.

  Thinking about it more, it wouldn’t be so horrible to be a cat shifter. They were beautiful and sleek, able to jump high, and had massive claws to rip assholes’ faces off. I mean, that was a bonus. I closed my eyes and leaned my head back, soaking in the tub.

  I jolted from the tub and realized I’d dozed off. I stared around the room, frowning as I replayed the dream. Knox had been in front of me, the rattling sound vibrating from his chest as I sucked his dick, and by suck it, I mean I was taking it all as he pushed the hair away from my face. He’d made noises that I’d craved, wanting to hear them. I’d done whatever he wanted me to. Not that Knox asked me to get on my knees; I’d fucking done it even though he’d tried to pull back, not wanting to hurt me. His eyes were black, flecked with fiery embers within them as he watched me, and any time I took him all, he fucking purred.

  Knox was a pussy! I snorted, smirking as I stood up, letting the water drip from my body as I left the tub. I guess it took a pussycat to know one, but if he thought he was getting any more of this cream, he was wrong. I would do everything in my power to stay away from him, avoiding him at all costs. He could do the same because even if we were cat shifters, he wasn’t sniffing my ass anymore.

  Chapter 39

  Three Months Later

  Days turned into weeks and weeks into months as we dug into the events that led to Amara’s vanishing act. Every time we began to make headway, it would end up being a dead end. It had gotten so exhausting that I’d started offering to work a shift in the store, even though I barely left the house to avoid running into Knox, who apparently had become chummy with Aurora. She’d gushed about his perfect etiquette and manners, spouting ballads in his name while I stared at her, stunned, like she’d bonked her head. Obviously, we hadn’t encountered the same version of Knox.

  The man had her eating out of his palm, and Aurora couldn’t shut up about it, which was why I was at Wickedly Rocked, currently slinging crystals like they were crack. Because I couldn’t stand that she liked the pompous, self-assured prick.

  A male in his early thirties approached me as I stacked rainbow-hued quartz stones above a lighted counter. He had gray eyes and a smirk that made me hesitant to acknowledge him. Pushing the silver hair away from my face, I smiled in a manner as friendly as I could muster, or what I hoped looked friendly. I wasn’t a people person, even if I did have a master’s degree in communications.

  “Do you have any carnelian?” he asked, staring at my breasts.

  My shirt said Come and Hex it, Baby, and was hot pink. “My eyes are up here,” I snapped, watching as his lifted with a deep glow of azure. �
�Wolf, you’re in the wrong store. There’s wolfsbane within this building, and it bites. Let’s show you the carnelian, and you can get out with your fur still pretty.”

  I turned and made my way to the small case of carnelian tumblers. Once I’d set them out, he stared at them and back at me.

  “Is it true they can help with confidence?”

  “It is,” I watched as he touched one, and then another. “Do they call to you?”

  “They’re rocks,” he muttered, as if he couldn’t believe he was buying one.

  “It’s a powerful crystal, blessed and charged by Hecate witches. You won’t find any better ones than here. Take it or leave it, but you can’t stay in the store too long. They’re brewing tonics below using wolfsbane. There’s a sign on the door giving warning.”

  “Listen, I need to impress my mate. She’s been acting strange. She keeps growling at me when I get close to the bed, and she bitches about everything. I need her to accept me into our bed, but she won’t.”

  “Was she breeding before her behavior changed?”

  “Yes.”

  “Congratulations, you’re going to be a father. Your mate won’t let you back into the bed until your child is securely planted. She’s nesting, per se. She doesn’t want to lose your child. You don’t need carnelian. You need some massive patience. Give her a week and try again.”

  “How the hell would you know that?” he asked, dumbfounded.

  “Because my sister, Luna, is pregnant, and she’s a massive bitch right now. She bares her teeth if we even get close to her door. She’s part witch and part alpha wolf. The guy she rutted with isn’t interested in the babes, so it falls on us to help her through the pregnancy.”

  “Wolves don’t nest.”

  “Same shit, different breed. You get my point. Your mate is pregnant and defending the unborn babe she grows within her. My guess is that it’s her first, and she’s afraid you will unseat it within her womb. Give her a week and then see what happens.”

  “You are no fucking help, witch,” he snorted and exited the store.

  Turning toward the counter, I placed the carnelian back beneath the cupboard while pulling out mixed tumblers to make into an assorted arrangement of rainbow colors on the counter. I leaned over further, grabbing the citrine and a few others before backing out and turning around. My gaze slid up the fancy suit to the delicious ocean-blue eyes of Knox, and I growled.

  “Get out, we don’t serve dicks.”

  “Your aunt sent me here for some things I needed,” he announced, picking up a set of rainbow aura points. “You’ve been hiding from me.” He stared at me as his finger slowly trailed over the sharp tip of the crystal.

  “No, it’s called avoiding you like the plague. Remember, you threw me out after assuring me I’d become a whore, or is your memory as fucked up as you are?” I set the rocks out on the counter and pushed them into order before a customer stepped up.

  “I need an amethyst sphere, highest quality you have.”

  “They’re on the back wall, top shelf. They’re untainted, so if you touch it, you buy it,” I said, spinning around to move through the store to the herbs.

  “You don’t leave the house, woman.” Knox watched me, following as I moved through the store. He chose to ignore my words and I rolled my eyes, laughing soundlessly.

  “Nope, rarely these days, and when I do, I sneak out to avoid certain pricks I don’t wish to encounter ever again in this lifetime, and by pricks, I mean you.”

  Dismissing him outright, I moved to the herbs, pulling the older bags from behind the new ones, placing them in the front so they would sell before their potency expired. Knox stood mere feet away from me, and I watched from the corner of my eye as he picked up random items, studying them before setting them back onto the shelves.

  “Do you have any potions to increase libido?” an imp asked.

  I guessed her species based on the way her nose stuck out further than the rest of her. “Do you have a willing partner?” I asked curtly.

  “Does it matter if they’re willing?”

  “People don’t enjoy waking up naked with someone they didn’t want to end up in bed with in the first place, so yes, it actually does matter.”

  “Uh,” the imp stammered.

  “People begged to be fucked, and got pissy when they got what they asked for,” Knox pointed out.

  The imp’s head moved between us and then snapped back to Knox, letting her gaze linger over his crotch. I glared at him as he smiled at the imp, giving her a wiggle of his brow that made my blood boil. I dismissed them both and retrieved the potion.

  “Here, if I find out you use it on an unwilling partner, I will personally make it my mission in life to fucking destroy you—but have a nice day and shit. Get the fuck out of my store.”

  I dismissed them both as my sister, Valeria, hooted from the register. She was pushing popcorn into her mouth, watching me as I methodically moved through the store, cleaning it, and stacking everything where it needed to go. I bent over a shelf, and he crowded behind me. Sweat beaded on my brow, and I turned, glaring at him.

  “Stay away from me.”

  “You’re not in heat.”

  “No, I’m not. When it happens, I’ll find someone to assist me who actually likes me. I have no intention of ever slipping up and landing on that dick again.”

  “You should be in heat by now,” he muttered.

  “Nope, didn’t happen once in the last three months, but thanks for coming in to sniff my pussy. You can go now,” I stated, folding my arms over my chest.

  He stared at me, dropping his gaze to my breasts, and then sniffed the air. I snorted, turning back to polish off the crystals from people coming in all day and touching them, smudging them with their fingers. I pulled the cloth from my pocket and cleaned one gently, placing it back down before I lowered my head to check the glow. Perfect.

  I spun around, and Knox was flush against me. My nostrils flared with his scent, and a deep purr erupted from my chest as I took him in. His smile turned cocky, his eyes narrowing to slits. I stepped back, watching him as he stepped forward, placing his hands on the glass shelf behind me, locking me into place.

  “You’re not pregnant.”

  “Thank fuck for that. Wouldn’t want a reminder for eternity that I’d been stupid enough to be with you, now would I?” I snapped icily, ducking under his arm.

  He turned cold, and I paused, watching the brief flash of pain that entered his eyes, dismissing it as an optical illusion, since everyone knew that asshole didn’t have any emotion. I stopped in front of the spheres and made sure each was placed to lure the eye. Once I’d ensured each was perfect, I turned, finding him leaning against the glass counter, watching me silently.

  “You’re still here?” I let my gaze drink in the sight of him quickly before exhaling. It would be a lot easier to ignore the prick if he didn’t look like sex incarnate and smell like it too.

  “Indeed, I am,” he answered, bringing his finger up to run over his lip. “You purred.”

  “So do you,” I smirked saucily, licking my lips slowly, so he didn’t miss the action. I watched as his eyes mirrored mine, turning to slits. His lips turned up in the corners as he continued studying me.

  “What else do you remember?”

  “That you fit down my throat, and that you tasted magically fucking delicious when you came. The noises you made, they soothed me and made me feel exhilarated, protected., and that I’d have done anything you wanted me to just so you would make them. Obviously, whatever is within me is bipolar and has horrible taste in men.”

  “You chose me too,” he pointed out.

  “Hey.” I held my hands up in mock surrender. “I didn’t say I was any smarter. I just pointed out the obvious. Do you intend to buy anything? We’re closing.”

  “Twenty more minutes, Aria.” Valeria smiled as I turned to glare at her.

  “We’re closing early, there’s a gathering with the alphas Aurora
agreed to be at tonight.”

  “The gathering? You’re going alone?” he asked.

  “No, I have men lined up to mount my cunt,” I lied crudely, turning to close the counters with the rare crystals inside.

  “I’ll see you there, little lamb. Careful not to taunt the wolves, they share territory and pussy.”

  His lips brushed across my shoulder, and I shivered, hating that my body responded to his. It was basic logic, I told myself. He was a man; I was a woman. Shit tended to get twisted, and panties ended up in a bunch on the floor. I just had to fight it. I’d spent three months hiding inside of my house to do just that. I’d been mixing potions to sell, purifying crystals, and endlessly working only to fall into bed exhausted, no longer haunted by the oceanic eyes that had controlled my dreams. No more, he could kiss my ass.

  “Maybe I’d like it since I’m such a slut,” I offered, moving away from him to let him mull it over.

  His chest rattled, and I closed my eyes, ignoring the need to answer him. My body arched, and my spine curved for him. My hands held onto the wood, and I screamed before it split, sending an entire shelf of herbs crashing onto the floor. I turned, glaring at him as a cocky smile crossed his lips.

  “The alphas wouldn’t be enough to satisfy you, Aria.”

  He turned, walking out of the shop as Valeria moved closer, staring at me. I shook my head, unable to open my mouth as my gums ached, and my spine shifted.

  “That can’t be good,” she uttered, bending down to pick up the herbs. “You hurt yourself, didn’t you? You were trying to ignore the noise he made, and oh my God, Aria, he makes the same sound as you do.”

  “It’s not good, it’s really not good,” I whispered through the pain in my mouth. “Something isn’t right.”

  “Yeah, you got a dental problem. Aurora said it was best not to tell you because you thought you were going insane, but Aria, you’ve got a mouth full of razor-sharp teeth. I saw them when Sabine touched you while Knox held you with his; they matched. It was intense and scary as shit, Aria. You also had a little pyro problem.”